Looking for sleeping help

Late to this thread... I have had extreme sleeping problems for half of my life. My record was more than 3 days without sleeping. I was incoherent and bouncing off the walls and I still couldn't just fall asleep. I go whole nights without sleep and even though I am tired a lot, I have learned how to live with it. I did have one doctor tell me that I could handle some CIA torture techniques because I deal with lack of sleep so well...

I don't know how bad you have it. Some things I do: 1) Wind down early. I meditate for a half hour each night. You need to find a quiet spot, try to assume a quarter (or half) lotus position and resign yourself to sitting still and not letting your mind wander. It's a challenge. If you don't have a clue what I am talking about, buy a book about meditation or basic budhism practice. 2) If you don't sleep, get up and do something -- preferably not watching TV. Read, write, even jump rope. When I was in graduate school, this woman I know lived in an apartment building with a window facing my place and she used to tell people she could see me jumping rope naked at 3 in the morning. I also do a ton of writing in the middle of the night. I have finished most of a novel writing that way. If you are going to be awake, I figure you might as well do good stuff. 3) Exercise every day. Something that raises your heart rate for at least 45 minutes. When I miss days I am more apt to not sleep. 4) Lastly, if you are like me, it is going to take heavy duty drugs when it gets bad. I know a lot of people resist this, but you do what you gotta do when nothing else works. On the mild end, there are two Tylenol PMs. These have no effect on me, although I'll sometimes mix them with harder stuff. There are the sleep drugs, Lunesta and Ambien and a few others. Again, I am impervious to them, so I don't even bother. But they work great for a lot of people, even as a short term solution to get your body back into whack. Then there are the benzos, like the valium someone mentioned. I've never taken valium and I am not sure many doctors will prescribe it just for a sleep disorder, but there is a related benzo they do give for sleep called temazepam (or marketed as restoril). I do take this, but it is considered a narcotic. For most people, it has the effect of an elephant tranquilizer, but in a hard case like me, it is touch and go. Sometimes I take it and it makes me a bit drowzy, but I still don't sleep. There are two doses. 15 mg works for most people, but you can take 30 mg. I try to take it as little as possible, but when things get really bad, I am not above taking it and mixing it with other stuff (so if you read about me ODing stupidly someday, you'll know why) to try to force a good night's sleep.

I'd try meditating to relax and see if Tylenol PM or ambien or lunesta help. If not, see if you can get a restoril prescription, but be careful with the stuff.